District 8 Congressional candidates spar over inflation, gun safety and calls for impeachment at debate

Following the first half of Thursday night’s gubernatorial debate at University of Tennessee at Martin, which featured three Democratic candidates for governor, four candidates for the Congressional District 8 seat took the hot seat for a contentious debate.

The two forums were the third in a series presented in partnership with the University of Tennessee System and the USA TODAY Network.

Attending for the Democratic nomination for the Congressional seat — against Tim McDonald, who was not in attendance — was Dr. Lynette Williams. Daniel Bridger Jr., Dr. Dean Clouse and Bob Hendry attended, each running for the Republican nomination against incumbent David Kustoff, also not in attendance.

While each candidate was united in their adamant support of “returning to Christian values” and their distrust of current elected officials, little else united them as topics of supposed election fraud, COVID-19 misinformation, inflation, impeachment and public safety drew staunch positions.

Bold stances in opening moments

Candidates started the debate off with strong opening statements.

Williams stated her adamant support of “getting Christian values back in politics,” and explaining that she has the “spiritual gift of HELPS” — an acronym for her platform.

“’HELPS means that I’m interested in healthcare, education, living wages and public safety,” she said. “I want you to understand that this is a time that we need to be closer to God. We need to stop the division and partisanship and come together as a country.”

Bridger said he was running “because David Kustoff has let us down.”

“He has sold us out,” he said. “He was a God-fearing man when he went in, and he is no longer a God-fearing man. We need more God-fearing men and women. There’s always going to be division. No one wants to be kumbaya. This is America, we’re always going to have differences. We just need to put those differences aside and have agreements.

More:Replay: Governor and congressional candidate forum at University of Tennessee Martin

“We need new leadership in Washington, and in the state. And if they’re up there now, we don’t need them up there.”

Clouse expressed his concern for his children’s generation due to many reasons, including unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, according to the U.S. Supreme Court and COVID-19 vaccine injuries.

“I’m fighting for my children’s future,” he said. “I’m tired of watching our own government chip away at our freedoms.”

Clouse, a physical therapist in Collierville, went on to say that he was “tired of seeing patients come in vaccine-injured.”

“They’re going to have life-long issues due to this vaccine that has been pushed by the media and our government,” he said. “I’m tired of the election fraud being unchecked. People are still walking free when we have a blatantly stolen election. And we still have governments pushing for machines when we clearly need to get rid of them.

“I’m just tired of the way things have gone in the past few years in our government.”

Hendry told the gathered students that they were “the future.”

“I’m running because our country needs a future,” he said. “Our current generation has somewhat failed us because we are not performing the fundamental functions of government, which is to secure the rights God has given us.

“Our country needs to have heroes, and it’s time we stand up to save this country.”

Most important issues and rising fuel prices

Candidates were asked next what issues they heard about most from their constituents, as well as their response to dealing with these issues amid rising fuel prices.

“The overwhelming things we’re hearing is that we need honest people with integrity and grit in Washington,” Hendry said. “We also need to secure our border. A nation without a secure border is not a nation. And we need to get our economy back under control.”

Clouse stated that the main concerns he heard were inflation and corruption.

“The thing that I hear the most is inflation — obviously it’s through the roof,” he said. “People can’t afford to live. On top of that, you have our current representative voting to send $40 billion away (in Ukraine) when we have this massive inflation … and people are worried that our government officials are not doing what they should do.”

According to Bridger, the most prevalent issue is the limited income for community members in the face of rising gas prices.

“People on fixed incomes, trying to get to the grocery store, they don’t get a raise. Congress gets a raise,” he said. “Everyone gets a raise. People on Social Security cannot. It's wrong that people are making the decision between medicine, food and gas. It’s terrible, and it’s got to stop.”

Williams took a broader approach, explaining that the main concerns she hears are the ones addressed in her ‘HELPS’ acronym.

“We’re having a problem with healthcare,” she said. “We’ve closed at least five rural hospitals (in recent years), and we really need to get expansion of Medicaid in Tennessee. It’s very important for us to do that. As well as improve our education system at every level, on top of living wages and public safety.”

In regards to fuel costs, Clouse supported repealing the gas tax, which was previously implemented as part of Gov. Bill Haslam's IMPROVE Act passed in 2017.

“I think the first thing we need to do is work with the state to repeal the gas tax,” he said. “It needs to go completely, like alcohol and gun taxes … if we’re spending $40 billion in Ukraine, we can spend a little bit on Tennessee too to try and incentivize something that will help Americans.”

Bridger stated that the only way to solve rising fuel prices was through impeachment. He went on to state his distrust of the efficacy of the electric vehicle industry.

“First thing I’d do in Congress is file impeachment charges on half the people there,” he said. “Start there. Impeach all people there. We have enough oil to be independent for 300 years. Why are we buying oil from Russia?

“They’re pushing electric cars. It’s a pipe dream on electric. The technology will be there sooner or later, but it’s not there right now. So we’re going to bankrupt the country to push something that does not work yet.”

Tennessee, and West Tennessee in particular, is poised to become a leader in the electric vehicle industry after the announcement of the $5.6 billion Ford manufacturing plant coming to Stanton.

According to Williams, the solution to rising fuel prices is bi-partisan discussion on the long-term ramifications of COVID-19.

“I would work with the other side of the aisle to get something done,” she said. “This is something that we will periodically deal with. We should tap into our reserves, but we also need to work with the oil barons that started this. During the pandemic, they lost billions of dollars. They’re basically trying to make up what they’ve lost, so we need to do our best to work with them, as well as work with those on the cutting edge of electric cars.”

Hendry, like Clouse and Bridger, advocated for a change in the oil industry standards.

“We have to deregulate the oil industry,” he said, adding that the “pathway to a better ecology is to make sure our economy is strong.”

A lack of action, he said, will lead to dire consequences.

“When the fuel prices get as high as they are right now, farmers can’t plow their fields,” he said. “Price of fertilizer has tripled, fuel doubled. The challenge for farmers is that they can’t farm. The challenge for us is that if we can’t farm and produce our own food, we will fight drought and famine.”

God needed in gun safety, better schools

In a rare moment of unity in the heated debate, all candidates at the table agreed that the issue of gun violence will be solved by “putting God back in the schools.”

“The Second Amendment says the rights shall not be infringed,” Bridger said. “Infringed means you don’t talk about banning guns, you don’t talk about taking away guns ... They’re passing laws when the problem is the hearts of men and women. They’re gone from God, and we need to put prayer back in school. Turn it around.”

Williams agreed.

“I truly believe the answer to this is in us, and in the Bible,” she said. “I think it would make a definite difference to put prayer back in schools.”

Williams explained that she never drank alcohol after reading a Bible verse against drinking when she was young.

“If you get something like that early on, it stays with you,” she said. “I think we need more of that. We need to get back to basics and the Bible.”

Hendry emphasized the point that it was a “people problem,” not a “tool problem.”

“The issue is not the tool, the issue is the heart,” he said. “The more we restrict access to firearms, the more criminals are going to have them anyway. Criminals don’t respect the law—that’s exactly why we have the Second Amendment. The only thing that should be discussed in Washington is how to turn our hearts back to God.”

Clouse also agreed, reminding gathered students that they could be “targets,” based on the prevalence of recent school shootings.

“We need God back in our lives daily,” he said. “People should be able to pray in schools. The only thing gun laws do is create more criminals."

Jan. 6 hearings a hot-button topic

Despite the moment of unison, candidates were quick to divide again after a question about their thoughts on the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Williams stated her support of a thorough investigation.

“I think the truth is important,” she said. “We need to get it out. It’s unfortunate that the network of Fox will not have any of the hearings because a lot of the people at least need to hear the evidence and make a decision for themselves as to exactly what happened on January 6th and everything prior to that. They were allowed to hear the truth during Watergate, and we need it now.”

Hendry staunchly disagreed, mentioning an instance of supposed voter fraud that was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court,  admitting that he was in attendance on Jan. 6.

“I was an eyewitness,” he said. “This was not an insurrection. There were enough people there that if they really wanted to go in there and take the country, they could’ve done it with their bare hands.”

Clouse agreed with Hendry, and also spoke of his attendance at the violent event.

“As far as the January 6th committee goes, it’s a complete farce,” he said. “They are purposely trying to hide the evidence..

“We could have taken over the entire United States if we wanted too. I listened to Trump’s speech before hand. He, in no way, incited anyone to do anything.”

Following this statement, a number of audience members walked out.

Bridger repeated Clouse and Hendry’s points.

“I agree with the two gentlemen to my left,” he said. “It’s the same thing over and over—smoke and mirrors. They’re taking your attention off of something else. What about the factories burning? What about the food shortages? We’re worried about 160 people?

“This was not an insurrection—it was a protest gone bad if you really want to call it that. Basically, they got a taste of their own medicine of what was happening across other states. This is ridiculous.”

When asked how the Republican candidates would work with the Biden administration, all three advocated for impeachment.

“In my mind, the current president has committed two impeachable offenses that the house needs to call him to account for,” Hendry said. “The first being shutting down American oil production, and the second being keeping our border open ... . You cannot have a secure nation without a secure border.”

Clouse agreed with the outcome, but attributed it to voter fraud.

Clouse listed “massive amounts” of what he believed to be supposed voter fraud in Arizona, Wisconsin, Georgia and more, some of which the U.S. Supreme Court rejected in 2021. 

“(If Republicans take the majority of the House), we can incentivize the states to do a full, independent audit of the election, and do what’s appropriate,” he said.

Moderator David Plazas pushed back, stating that the Arizona votes were investigated and found to be accurate. Plazas then asked Clouse why he thinks the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

“Because I sat and watched as the media tried to portray that Arizona confirmed Biden —that was not true!” Clouse said.

Bridger agreed with his colleagues.

“There was election fraud,” he said. “Follow the money. You think Republicans can’t be bought off? It’s been happening for years. Bullying don’t just happen in school—it happens in government too.”

Williams refuted the statements about election fraud.

“I disagree with my colleagues on the other side, because I still believe the truth still needs to be heard,” she said. “I don’t believe, that out of all of these elections, we suddenly have election fraud. Our country is stronger that that. We’ve been running elections until Trump got elected, and suddenly we can’t run elections?”

Bridger also said that, should Republicans not gain majority, “We will face the greatest depression the world has ever seen.”

“1929 will look like a cakewalk,” he said, to audible chuckling in the crowd. “We will be a third-world country. Venezuela will have more money than us.”

Hendry and Clouse agreed, with Hendry stating “We can’t spend our way out…We need to be fiscally responsible.”

Early voting begins on July 15, with the primary election on Aug. 4.

Voter registration is due by July 5. Registration can be done online at ovr.govote.tn.gov.

Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@gannett.com, by phone at 731-343-5212, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham.